Most cannot live without one, while very few see them as a curse of modern life. But whatever your vision for smartphones, without one in your pocket, you’d have to carry the equivalent of 26 separate items. Smartphone technology replaces the need to carry a map, a camera, and a host of other essentials. While a smartphone fits easily in the palm of one hand and weighs little, we estimate that at least one backpack would be needed to carry all the extra items, and it appears to be cheaper too.
It costs much less to buy, use and maintain a smartphone than to buy all the additional items separately. The prices of the items on the list range from affordable (buy a newspaper) to expensive (buy a high-quality camera). Other expensive devices include a portable game console and an MP3 player for listening to music. So let’s take a look at the various items we would need to have if smartphones were to suddenly go extinct:
Newspapers:
This is a common means of disseminating information (reliable or unreliable) within a country. Without a smartphone, you would be restricted to the newspapers that are sold in your locality and, even worse, you would have to go out and buy it.
High-quality cameras:
We are in the generation of ‘selfies’ and it definitely would not be like that with the smartphone. So without owning a smartphone, you would have to invest in a high-quality camera that could cost you thousands of dollars in cash.
Video camera:
These are primarily used for recording memorable events and should be high on your shopping list if you don’t have a smartphone.
English Dictionary:
For native and foreign English speakers, a dictionary is a must-have without a smartphone
Handheld game console:
Don’t have a smartphone as a gamer? Then you will have to invest in a game console.
Directory:
I know. We all use our smartphones as our default address book. So, imagine having to buy and use a physical address book? Discouraging, right?
Calculator:
Ah! Who Needs a Calculator? Everyone interested in money and math needs a calculator. This is an item that most people would carry in the event of a smartphone apocalypse.
Checkbook:
Sure, most people have one, but can you imagine not being able to pay bills or transfer funds by swiping your phone screen from the comfort of your home and at your leisure? Welcome, bank queues.
Ballpoint:
No smartphone, no texting. So carrying a message writing pen wherever you go would be essential and perhaps a bit boring.
Alarm clock:
For heavy sleepers, this is a must-buy and would actually be a very smart investment.
Look:
Yes, we all have all kinds of watches on our left hand, but if you don’t have one and you don’t have a smartphone, you could be left stranded or, worse yet, live without a sense of tomorrow.
Telephone:
Without smartphones, phones would be the only means of communication from far and near. So imagine that you will be inaccessible until you are at home or, worse still, walking around with a phone.
CD and DVD:
No smartphones, no digital downloads. We’re only left with packs and packs of compact discs to buy, play, and throw away when we’ve heard or seen enough.
Photo album:
This becomes really essential for everyone, singles, couples and married people, immediately after buying a quality camera. What a bummer!
Mp3 player:
Buying a quality MP3 player would cost you thousands of dollars and would be essential because, in the end, we all need some kind of music to spice up our boring lives.
Chronograph:
This is an item we wouldn’t need with a smartphone close at hand, but without one, a stopwatch could come in handy.
Clock:
Not having a smartphone means having to buy a watch (which we all have in our homes anyway) so as not to be seen as the past.
Torch:
This would be useful in the dark without a smartphone in hand.
Journals:
Without a smartphone through which we check the latest trends in all aspects of our lifestyle, we would have to literally buy magazines to feed our eyes and the inexhaustible thirst for relevant and irrelevant information.
Portable speakers:
Buying DVD, CD and MP3 players would definitely lead to the purchase of portable speakers because for (me and) most people, what is music if not loud music?
Road map:
Investing in road maps would be a certainty while driving if there were no smartphones, no Google maps, no GPS, no satellites or …
Cook Book:
We love food. Not just any food, but good food, so doing our best to get a solid cookbook would be on our agenda.
Debit cards:
As important as the air we breathe.
World Atlas:
This would be very cumbersome to carry around, but on the plus side, it’s always fun to get to know all the countries and their locations.
Alien Phrasebook:
Learning a foreign language can be overwhelming, but with Google Translate on our smartphones, life becomes easier. Therefore, the purchase of a foreign phrasebook becomes a necessity in case there are no smartphones (or Google translator).
Encyclopedia:
mmm …
It has been really interesting to think of everything a smartphone can do and have it in front of us. It definitely helps you appreciate how smart they are and how much they are capable of doing for us. We realized how much we take for granted the myriad of inventions that we can fit in our pocket, easily at our fingertips at any time. With new apps and features being released every day, smartphones now allow users to accomplish much more with one device without the need to purchase additional items. If only we could look to the future to find out what’s next for the ever-evolving world of the mobile phone.
